Injured Shrimpers still sidelined

Injury-hit Southend do not expect any of their sidelined players to return in time for the visit of Northampton.

Defenders Chris Barker (calf) and Mark Phillips (toe) will continue to miss out, along with the suspended Ryan Cresswell, who serves the second game of his three-match ban.
Leading scorer Gavin Tomlin is not expected to return from his thigh problem until next month, while Michael Timlin (broken leg) is ruled out for the rest of the season.
Midfielder Marc Laird picked up a hamstring injury during the first half of Tuesday night's 2-1 defeat to Cheltenham and misses out, as does Caolan Lavery (hamstring).
Meanwhile, Kevan Hurst was absent from training on Thursday due to a virus.